


Spot the Difference: Felix vs. a Cat

by LucRambles



Series: Felix Birthday Week 2020 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cats, Fluff, Gen, Soft Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Trans Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22840303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucRambles/pseuds/LucRambles
Summary: Felix isn't known for liking animals. And to be fair, he's not a fan of most.Cats are a different story.Felix Birthday Week, Day 2: Cats
Series: Felix Birthday Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642051
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49
Collections: Felix Birthday Week 2020





	Spot the Difference: Felix vs. a Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Day two! Woo!  
> This one isn't nearly as long as the first. It's literally just Felix chilling with a Monastery cat. Sylvain shows up for five seconds.

Anyone who has spent time around cats knows they pick favorite people, and they’re very stubborn in their choices. The cats at Garreg Mach Monastery all had favorites—a pair of cream-and-white tabbies were very fond of Annette, a deaf white tom would sit with Mercedes in the greenhouse, a skittish grey kitten would only approach Bernadetta, and a group of older black cats had taken to following Byleth (especially when they saw her by the pond).

The majority of the cats, however, favored someone most wouldn’t have guessed. Felix Fraldarius would often stop and feed them, even sit and play with them for a while (if no one was watching, of course). In the winter, he tended to let some of the cats’ sleep in his room at night, so they could stay out of the cold.

However, these things were only known amongst the cats—as far as humans were concerned, Felix wasn’t fond of animals in general.

“Come on Felix, I promise she doesn’t bite,” Sylvain whined, patting his horse’s neck.

“I don’t trust that thing. I don’t know how you ride them.”

“Horses are sweet, Fe. And Anastasia here is the sweetest.”

“That thing cares nothing for us.”

“Shhhhh!” Sylvain quickly covered the animal’s ears. “Don’t be so rude to her!”

“I don’t trust anything taller than me,” Felix said, crossing his arms.

“That… explains a lot.”

“How exactly am I supposed to get on this thing?”

“The same way you get on a horse,” Ingrid said, climbing on her pegasus.

“Horses… don’t have wings. Or fangs. Or _talons.”_ Felix was standing a good twenty feet from the wyvern, and he was still leaning back so far it was a surprise he hadn’t fallen over yet.

Ingrid sighed. “Professor Byleth assigned us to patrol duty for the week. Which includes you getting on the wyvern.”

“I would take literally any chore over having to go near this thing.”

“She’s not a pegasus, Felix, she’s not going to bite you.”

_“We don’t know that.”_

If he had any say in this, Felix was not getting on the damn wyvern. He had ridden on a flying animal exactly once, when he was six—Fraldarius had been a pegasus knight, so little Felix wanted to be like his ancestor. His father and Glenn encouraged him, but unfortunately at the time, the pegasus was the only one who knew he was a boy.

It didn’t go well, and Felix vowed to never fly again. Or go near pegasi or any other flying beast if he could help it. He was even wary of horses, after seeing how many times Sylvain and Dimitri were bucked off of them and needed to be treated for concussions.

So, Felix wasn’t exactly known as an animal lover. He wouldn’t needlessly hurt them—he was an asshole, but humans deserved it—but he didn’t _like_ most of them.

Except cats. Felix was absolutely helpless when it came to cats.

His family knew that, of course. As a child, Felix had a tendency to feed all the stray cats around the Fraldarius manor, even sneaking some inside on a few occasions to keep as pets. His friends knew Felix liked them as a child, but they never saw him around them after he closed himself off. These tendencies hadn’t really changed--he was just more secretive about his love for the small furry creatures.

“ _Pspspspspsps_ , come here little guy.”

The cat was hiding under a bush a few feet away, a thin trail of blood leading to it. Felix had noticed a cut on the cat’s hind leg, but it ran away as soon as he approached it. He had just come from dinner and had some leftovers with him, which he was now trying to bait the cat with.

“Come on,” he called softly, stretching his arm out as far as he could and holding the piece of meat with the tips of his fingers. The cat did not move and continued to stare at him from under the bush. “I just wanna patch you up, c’mon…” Like all of Byleth’s students, Felix knew a basic healing spell. While it was a little different on animals, this wouldn’t be the first time he healed up a cat. And honestly, the cut didn’t look _terrible,_ but Felix would still rather not leave it alone.

He stretched out a little further, lightly tossing the meat towards the cat. It landed about a foot away from the bush, and the cat's eyes flickered down to it before returning to Felix. The swordsman sat back on his heels, a safe distance from the food. He kept watching the cat without making eye contact—they were like him in that sense, cats didn’t like it either.

Eventually, the cat took a slow step forward, crouching low to the ground, ready to flee should Felix approach. He watched as it took a couple more steps, stretching out a paw to pull the food closer before tearing into it. After a moment he made a noise to get the cat’s attention again and held out another scrap of meat. “C’mon little guy, I’m just trying to help.”

After getting a decent snack, the cat decided Felix was safe enough to warrant approach. It still wouldn’t let Felix touch it—which, fair, some cats don’t like to be pet, but he was going to have to get close if he was going to heal it. It took a few more minutes of coaxing before the cat was finally in reach. He began channeling the healing spell and moved slowly enough so that he didn’t startle it. It watched him suspiciously, but seemed to relax in the presence of healing magic. “That’s it, good kitty,” Felix murmured as he gently laid his hand on the cat’s hind leg. He felt the skin stitch itself back together under his touch as the healing process was accelerated. After a few seconds the leg was good as new, save for a small bald patch where the cut had been.

Felix and the cat sat in a relaxing silence for a few moments before loud footsteps approached. The cat picked its head up, then darted back under the bush when someone rounded the corner.

“Oh! Hey Felix, didn’t see you there,” Sylvain said. “What are you doing hiding back here?”

“N—none of your business,” he stammered as he jumped to his feet. “What are you doing out? It’s late.”

“You’re out, aren’t you?”

“I was—I was training. I was just on my way back.”

At that moment, that cat seemed to decide Sylvain was safe, and emerged from its hiding spot. It trotted back up to Felix and started pawing at his leg, smelling the food still in his pocket.

“Aww, what a cute kitty!” Sylvain cooed, immediately crouching down and calling the cat over.

“This one’s shy, it’s not gonna let you pet it.”

Sylvain raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk on his face. “Now how do you know that? You were out here playing with the cats, weren’t you?”

Felix felt his face heat up. “I—I was _not._ I don’t have time to do silly things like playing with—hey!”

The cat had latched itself onto Felix’s coat and gotten a paw into his pocket, grabbing a piece of meat before realizing it was now stuck. It began tugging in an attempt to detach its claws from the fabric, making distressed growling noises. Felix sighed and unhooked it, narrowly dodging a bite from the panicked animal. It escaped back under the bush with its prize as soon as Felix put it down.

Felix refused to look at Sylvain. He could feel it--that knowing, shit-eating grin. “You know, cats usually aren’t that friendly with people they don’t know. They’re shy creatures, you know? Wary. Kinda like you, now that I think about it.”

_“I wasn’t playing with the cat.”_

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Sylvain said as he stood. He walked over to Felix and patted him on the back. “Everyone plays with the cats around here. And hey, if people know you have a soft spot—”

_“I do not have a soft spot—”_

“—maybe it’ll make you a bit more approachable. The whole ‘glare and scowl’ thing isn’t really working.”

Felix huffed, shaking Sylvain’s hand off him. “You’re insufferable.”

“You really are just like a cat, Fe. All grumpy but you’re actually a big sweetie. And you have really soft hair—”

“Touch my hair and I’ll remind you that cats have claws, too.”

Sylvain, wisely, did not touch Felix’s hair.

(Although, Felix couldn’t deny that he might’ve liked it. That cats certainly seemed to).

**Author's Note:**

> Baby Felix: I wanna be a pegasus knight! Like Fraldarius!  
> Rodrigue: *shrugs* okay, why not  
> *one disaster later*  
> Felix, after a few years, realizing he's a boy: Oh, that's why it threw me off  
> Felix: Fair.
> 
> Kudos/Comments always appreciated!


End file.
